Another Record Year for Passenger Traffic at Oakland International Airport in 2001

Oakland, CA, February 7, 2002 - Passenger traffic increased at Oakland International Airport in 2001, up 7.5 percent over the previous year, in spite of the weak economy and the tragic events surrounding the September 11th disaster.

There were 5,697,121 departing passengers (enplanements) and 5,719,458 arriving passengers (deplanements) for a total of 11,416,579. While annualized figures for the industry have yet to be released by the Air Transport Association (ATA), it is expected that domestic enplanements will be down 7.4 percent for the year. Oakland International finished the year with a healthy increase of 7.75 percent in enplanements.

Double-digit growth for the first eight months of the year, along with post-September 11 passenger volumes rebounding better than industry average, contributed to Oakland International Airport's positive results, said Steven J. Grossman, director of aviation for the Port of Oakland, which operates the airport.

"We are pleased with how strong we finished the year considering the obstacles we faced in the last quarter of 2001," said Grossman. "Six carriers launched new nonstop service from Oakland during 2001, including transcontinental flights to New York/JFK and Atlanta and flights to vacation destinations in Hawaii and Mexico."

More new service has already been announced this year with more expected later this spring, so the airport could possibly top 12 million passengers in 2002, he added.

The following is a list of service inaugurated or expanded at Oakland International Airport in 2001:

-Aloha Airlines inaugurated twice daily nonstop service between Oakland and Las Vegas in February and four flights weekly between Oakland and Kona in April.
-Continental Airlines added a third daily nonstop to Houston in September.
-Delta Air Lines inaugurated two daily nonstops to Atlanta in June. In October, Delta launched three flights a day between Oakland and Salt Lake on regional jets operated by Delta's airline partner, Delta Connection. -JetBlue Airways added another nonstop flight between Oakland and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in May, bringing their total number of operations to the New York area to two a day.
-Southwest Airlines closed its San Francisco International Airport operation consisting of 14 daily flights and relocated eight of those flights to its Oakland operation in March. The relocated service included one (1) additional flight to Las Vegas, one (1) additional flight to Orange County, two (2) additional flights to Phoenix and four (4) additional flights to San Diego. The carrier inaugurated a daily flight between Oakland and New Orleans in October.
-Spirit Airlines inaugurated a nightly red-eye flight between Oakland and Detroit in May.
-SunTrips relocated its popular Mexico program to Oakland International Airport from San Francisco International Airport in September. The six weekly flights go to resort destinations such as Cancun/Cozumel, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta.

Air cargo volumes were down nearly 16 percent in 2001 to 608,437 metric tons. This decrease reflects the health of the nation's economy and the after-effects of September 11.

Oakland International Airport has nearly 200 flights a day on 11 domestic and international carriers to 32 nonstop destinations, including the Hawaiian Islands, the New York area, Atlanta and Mexico. It is the regional distribution center and is the designated Pacific gateway for FedEx. The airport is a revenue division of the Port of Oakland, an independent department of the city of Oakland.

Oakland International consistently has the fewest weather-related flight delays in the Bay Area. It is the only Bay Area airport with a dedicated shuttle bus that meets every Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system train at the nearby Coliseum station. On-airport parking rates are $18/day in the long-term (Daily) lot and $15/day in the economy/overflow lots. For information on ground transportation and parking services, call 1-888-IFLYOAK (435-9625). Visit the airport's Web site at www.oaklandairport.com for additional information.